Initial reports suggest over 30 dead and more than one hundred left injured.

GENEVA, Switzerland, September 18, 2017/APO/ --

UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, is shocked and saddened over the violent death of numerous Burundian nationals– among them likely refugees and asylum seekers, in Kamanyola, a town in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo. UNHCR also calls for an investigation into this tragic incident.

While the precise circumstances are not yet clear, reports indicate that in the course of a confrontation with Burundian demonstrators, Congolese security forces opened fire on the crowd. Initial reports suggest over 30 dead and more than one hundred left injured.

UNHCR and its partners have sent teams to Kamanyola, including medical staff, to treat the injured.

Kamanyola hosts 2005 refugees and asylum seekers from Burundi, most of whom arrived in 2015. A total of 43,769 Burundian refugees live in DRC.

Distributed by APO on behalf of United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).